The CES in Las Vegas in January is always followed by the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. For years now, all manufacturers in the mobile phone industry have been gathering in the Catalan metropolis towards the end of February. These include not only the big well-known ones such as Samsung, Xiaomi or Deutsche Telekom, but also many other and partly unknown ones as well as startups.
Thematically, the AI trend that was already popular at CES continues here too. However, the mobile communications trade fair is also more diversified, but not everything that was shown was as up-to-date as it would seem, and not everything was as close to market readiness as one would hope.
According to the organizer GSMA, the trade fair was visited by over 110,000 trade visitors from 205 countries, over 20,000 more than in 2023. At that time, 88,000 visitors were officially counted.
Some of them have been known for months: top smartphones from Honor and Xiaomi
A mobile phone trade fair is somehow nothing without smartphones. Accordingly, manufacturers such as Xiaomi and Honor held their global launches for the Xiaomi 14 and 14 Ultra as well as the Honor Magic Pro 6 (our first test) during the event.
The Xiaomi 14 Ultra hands-on. (Photo: t3n)
Neither the Honor nor the base model of the Xiaomi 14 are completely new. The Xiaomi 14 was introduced for the Chinese market in October, the Magic 6 debuted there on January 11th. Xiaomi couldn’t even wait for the Sunday launch in Barcelona for the Ultra and made the top model with Leica optics official a few days beforehand, so there were no big surprises apart from the euro price. That was kind of a shame.
The press conference by Nokia smartphone manufacturer HMD was ultimately somewhat disappointing: the company invited the press to a fancy location to announce a new strategy and a brand partnership with Mattel. The company plans to launch a feature phone with a Barbie look over the course of the summer. Basically a year too late to jump on the hype train.
Probably a long way off: wristband and AI phones from Telekom
Concept: The smartphone that can be worn on the wrist. (Photo: t3n)
Other companies also had smartphones on their stands, but these were viewed more as concepts and ideas. On the one hand, the Lenovo subsidiary Motorola had a strange smartphone with a flexible display that can be used as an oversized smartwatch, so to speak. However, the gadget concept did not celebrate a real world premiere at the MWC. The manufacturer had already shown it at its own in-house exhibition, Lenovo Techworld, in October 2023.
Speaking of Lenovo: With the notebook with a transparent display, the company presented another futuristic feasibility study. The device was an absolute eye-catcher, but we doubt that it will ever go into series production. Makers of science fiction films or series have certainly already expressed interest.
Lenovo’s transparent notebook concept. (Photo: t3n)
There is also a question mark over Deutsche Telekom’s AI phone, with which the company dreams of a future without apps. On the one hand, the idea is interesting, but on the other hand, there is still a long way to go – at least Telekom has not given a specific time frame for a market launch. The question also arises as to whether it makes sense to limit the flexibility of a smartphone, which is achieved through the variety of apps.
An early variant of Telekom’s AI phone. (Photo: t3n)
Oh yes: the battery pack with an integrated smartphone from Energizer is more of a bizarre marketing gimmick that the licensee and manufacturer Avenir Telecom presents in different versions every few years. For this year’s MWC, the manufacturer gave the smartphone a battery with 28,000 milliamp hours. We are skeptical that the monster will ever make it onto the market, even if the manufacturer says it will be released in the fall. The predecessor, the Energizer P18K Pop, was never available.
Biggest surprise: Samsung Galaxy Ring
Smart ring: This is what the Samsung Galaxy Ring looks like. (Photo: t3n)
While Telekom’s AI phone and of course Xiaomi’s new smartphones were among the big trade fair announcements, Samsung dropped a medium-sized bombshell. The South Korean manufacturer did not have any real innovations to announce that would be coming onto the market shortly. After all, the Galaxy S24 series was announced in mid-January, and the Galaxy Book 4 models even celebrated their premiere in some countries in December 2023.
But the manufacturer still brought a new product category to MWC in the form of the Galaxy Ring. However, Samsung only exhibited the smart ring and only gave a few media insights into the strategy for the gadget.
With the ring, the manufacturer is pursuing a similar salami tactic as Oneplus or Nothing, which are known for revealing their products in slices. It is not expected to come onto the market until the second half of the year.
The Oneplus Watch 2 is not as delicate as the Pixel Watch 2 (below), but it lasts significantly longer thanks, among other things, to a hybrid system. (Photo: t3n)
An exciting prospect for smartwatches with Google’s Wear OS was the introduction of the Oneplus Watch 2. The smart watch is one of the first with a hybrid operating system, which allows Google to significantly extend the running time of the devices. The Oneplus watch is said to last up to 100 hours.
Lots of AI, technology for today and tomorrow – and few cars
In addition to all sorts of product announcements and teasers, the companies also had a lot of news in store that we should benefit from in the near future. The smartphone manufacturer Oppo wants to sell its devices in Germany again soon after the end of the patent dispute with Nokia.
Qualcomm and Mediatek announced at the trade fair that they would be offering complete large-language AI models on smartphones or Windows PCs (Qualcomm only). pack. This would mean that access to cloud servers would no longer be necessary for many generative AI applications. Honor also showed corresponding solutions on its top model. AI can also be expected in XR glasses, new models of which are expected to appear later this year.
Humanes AI Pin was seen outside the US for the first time at MWC 2024. (Photo: t3n)
For the first time outside the USA, the startup Humane AI was represented at MWC with its AI gadget, the AI Pin. However, the company did not have its own stand. The AI Pin was demonstrated at the Qualcomm booth. However, the device does not seem to be coming to Europe for the time being, as a Humane employee at the stand revealed.
One product division was particularly conspicuous by its absence this year: car manufacturers. In recent years, companies such as Audi, BMW or Mercedes and even Ford have shown their software developments at the trade fair. Apparently almost only Renault and the car newcomer Xiaomi had dared to attend the MWC 2024.
Xiaomi’s first electric car SU7 in Barcelona. (Photo: t3n)
With the H1st Vision, Renault had a concept car that was intended to put people at the center using electronics. Xiaomi’s SU7, which will initially be sold in China, stood in the middle of the stand, symbolizing the company’s big, global car plans. The fact that car manufacturers stayed away from the trade fair could be due, among other things, to the fact that they currently have nothing to announce. Audi is struggling with software problems and BMW is preparing for the new class, which is scheduled to start in 2025.
